A strike by 4,800 Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. employees that shut down all CPR freight traffic on Wednesday is equivalent to holding the economy hostage, says a local grain farmer.
“There are two rail systems in this country and we are really at their mercy,” said Alberta Barley Commission director Mike Ammeter, who farms barley, wheat, canola and peas near Sylvan Lake.
“The railroad is essential to our country.”
Another 2,000 unionized workers were temporarily laid off on Wednesday as their services were not needed during the work stoppage.
Major points of contention are pensions, work rules and fatigue management.
The government fired back on Wednesday, saying it would introduce back-to-work legislation with the idea of binding arbitration. The earliest the legislation could be passed, however, would be on Monday as Parliament is not sitting this week.
A prolonged CPR strike could cost the Canadian economy approximately $540-million per week, federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said.
Ammeter said his source of income comes entirely from grain; therefore, the movement of it is vital to his livelihood.
“I can’t load trucks and head over to Vancouver with grain, that just doesn’t happen. Some people might say, ‘Oh a train didn’t run, whatever.’ But it has to move.”
As an exporting nation, a prolonged strike would be devastating for Canada and Alberta, Ammeter said.
“Anything that is destined for export, specifically canola and wheat, are reliant on the railroad. How do you get canola to Japan? It has to be on a train and then on a ship.”
The possibility of an extended freight halt is also triggering alarm bells with petrochemical plants in Central Alberta.
Approximately 70 per cent of Ineos Oligomers global petrochemical product leaves its site by railway. The company is running at a reduced rate to manage the site inventory, said Ineos Oligomers site manager Barry MacKenzie.
“The lost production tonnes while we are at a reduced rate cannot be made up during the year,” he said.
“We planned on running to capacity for the remainder of the year so it’s revenue lost.”
Ineos has depended on CPR as its carrier and is now trying to drum up contingency plans with the Canadian National Railway Co. (CN).
Ineos participates in a global market so disruptions such as this hurt its ability to compete, MacKenzie said.
“Just the fact we have to slow down for a couple days is unfortunate. The sooner that they can get back up and running, the better.”
Nova Chemicals’ Joffre plant — one of the largest ethylene and polyethylene production complexes in the world — is also working on contingency plans, said site manager Rick Van Hemmen.
“This is certainly a big concern for us and it will take us a while to see if we can settle in with CN but hopefully by then the CPR issue will be resolved and we can get moving again,” he said.
“We are functioning at this point but there may come a time when it will becomes a lot more painful.”
jjones@www.reddeeradvocate.com